The real heart of the textbook controversy is whether Texas students should learn about contraception. And the answer is no. Texas has now officially gone to abstinence-only textbooks. The students are learning the ABCs of sex education without the C. And as Texas, the second-largest book buyer in the country, goes, so may go the nation.
- Ellen Goodman
It’s one thing to want your children to learn things that reflect the values that you are trying to teach them. That, after all, is part and parcel of a parent’s responisibility. When you withhold important information from children out of a slavish devotion to ideology, well…one could make the argument that this borders on child abuse…or certainly parental neglect.
BOSTON — Here it is, just days after the red states gave their presidential seal of approval to the man from Texas, and we’ve already been treated to another skirmish in the culture wars. The Texas Board of Education has now given its educational seal of approval to what may soon be dubbed Red Sex Ed.
The big news is the state’s successful demand that textbook publishers change the description of marriage between “two people” to marriage between “a man and a woman.” They also ordered that marriage be defined as “a lifelong union between a husband and a wife.”
Frankly, I found the “lifelong” description charming considering that the Lone Star State has one of the highest divorce rates in the country. Massachusetts, by the way, has the lowest divorce rate in the country. We are so fond of marriage that we want everyone to do it.
Of course, here in Texas, we don’t want our children learning any of that Blue State Librul contraception crap. No, we would MUCH rather that our children learn things the hard way- by getting pregnant or contracting an STD so we can then revile them for not resisting the urge to copulate like randy bunnies. Never mind the fact that their parents probably did much the same thing in their time. It’s SO much easier to condemn promiscuity when enough time has passed that you’ve completely forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager, eh?
Of course, we would all prefer that our children abstain from sex until they are “ready” to handle it…whatever that might mean to any of us. The reality is, however, that teenagers, being the bubbling cauldron of hormones that they are, WILL experiment with sex, regardless of what adults might tell them. Sure, there are those teens who will pledge to abstain and will keep that pledge. I would submit, however, that however admirable those teens may be, they are a pronounced minority.
Apparently, adults in Texas have not only forgotten what it is like to be a teenager these days, they’ve also decided they would rather risk early pregnancies and STDs than allow their children to be exposed to information that can protect them.
Ironically, most people would agree that abstinence and protection are good things. What we appear to differ on is whether or not to actually teach our children about these things. Teaching abstinence-only is as empty and irresponsible as teaching children about sex without teaching them about relationships and protection and responsibility…and yes, abstinence. Yet, some zealots in Texas are (successfully) demanding that our children be given only part of the picture. Apparently, they’re expected to figure out the rest of it on their own.
Is it any wonder that Texas has one of the highest divorce rates in the country? When our children cannot be taught anything but abstinence, can we reasonably claim to be surprised when they enter adulthood unprepared for the issues involved in sex and relationships?
Of course, this would be in step with our new (unofficial) state slogan:
TEXAS: WE LIKE ‘EM BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT
